


That fatal moment's coming at last...

by Metas



Series: T'aint nobody's business if I do [2]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Musical References, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 12:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21392368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metas/pseuds/Metas
Summary: Charlie's convinced that no matter whatever's behind the door that she's ready for it.Upon peering inside however she suddenly realizes she's not.
Relationships: Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) & Charlie Magne
Series: T'aint nobody's business if I do [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542289
Comments: 10
Kudos: 198





	That fatal moment's coming at last...

Charlie wipes the sweat from her brow as she pushes the last box into the room of her newest tenant.  
The hotel was filling in slowly, a snails pace really, but it was still progress, more than she could have ever hoped after the fiasco live on the news!  
A thunk to her side prompts her to turn her head towards a white and pink spider on the floor next to a busted drawer, panting heavily. 

"I think I'm gonna die again, Is this what redemption's like?"

Charlie walks over, kneeling beside him patting him on the shoulder with a smile while her companion catches his breath, coughing loudly. Normally she would ask Vaggie for help but Vaggie was getting their newest member of their hotel situated with the records. Angel Dust had been laying on the couch at the time and Vaggie was able to procure his help after some very loud aggressive “convincing”

"I really appreciate it Angel, really thank you for the help"

Angel simply gives her a look, sounding more like he's dying as he goes on

"I think I liked it better when I was a porn star, at least then I'd be workin' up a sweat doin' somethin' I love"

Charlie simply gives him a hard look which isn't so hard coming from her to which he merely shoots a goofy grin back up at her, his breath having finally calmed.

“I’m jokin’ sweetcheeks”

He manages to push him self in to a sitting position, the blonde helping to pull him to a stand.  
Angel swipes imaginary dust off his person taking in a deep breath only to cough again ungracefully at the real dust floating around in the air, making him wave a hand in front of his face to try to blow the dust away, only making it worse.

"Eesh, This place really could use a “ladies' touch”, why not grab the short stack to come in an’ freshen’ things up in here"

It's less of a question and more of a statement as Angel slinks out the door leaving Charlie behind in the room watching him leave.

“If you don’t mind me then, Charls, after all this good behavior I'm gonna go get some well deserved me time get this hard work out of my fluff”

The spider gives her four finger guns, a wink and he’s gone. Charlie considers following him, make sure he's not using this time to make use of any substances he may have managed to get by her and Vaggie, but thinks against it after remembering the last time she tried to do a surprise drug check that ended with her unable to look at him properly in the eye for days.

Charlie takes a sharp breath, eyes closed to clear her mind of the thoughts that had started to pervade it speaking to the empty room.

"We'll address that later"

Opening her eyes once more, the deviless eyes the room, specifically the way the light coming in from the window catches on the dust in the air, causing her to squint.  
Angel was right the rooms could use a touch up before anyone actually gets really settled in, and with a plan in mind she walks off to find the hotel's sole assigned cleaning staff.

Charlie enters the foyer of the Hotel, looking for any sign of Niffty but the area is immaculate with no sign of the little demon in sight.  
She spies Husker, face down at his post hand clenched in a death grip around the bottle of booze that, since the hotel had opened, never seemed to run dry. Sliding up to the desk Charlie clears her throat but no notice of recognition is made to her presence. Feeling slightly awkward she coughs into her hand only to, once again, not to be acknowledged.  
She tries a third time, clearing her throat loudly intentionally.  
She has to be firm with her staff, she needs to run the hotel with conviction if it's going to work at all.  
For her troubles she recieves a muffled grunt from the otherwise assumed comatose cat-bird-thing, Husker's head turns to the side from its faced down position, giving her a lazy scowl at having been disturbed from his "work"

"You got throat cancer or you gonna actually ask a question?"

Charlie shrinks away, confidence taking a hit at being talked down to by her employee, she smiles sheepishly, almost apologetically

"Aha, yeeeaaah, I was just wondering if you've seen Niffty around anywhere? I need her to clean a new tenant's room"

Husker eyes her for a second, tipping the booze bottle without moving his head so it enters his mouth and he takes a sideways swig.

"She was here earlier and now she's not."

She waits for more until a solid moment passes where they’re just looking at each other and she realizes she’s not going to get anything else from him.  
Charlie rolls her eyes in frustration closing them a moment and taking a breath, she exhales and opens them with a firmer look than she used on Angel.

"Well did you see where she went?"

The cat man looks both unphased and unimpressed by her, taking another swig turning his face back halfway down. His eyes turn away from her to something on the ceiling, ear twitching a little before he focuses back on her.

"What do I look like, her keeper? My “job” is to watch this desk, you don’t pay me to keep track of the shrimp."

Turning away from the main desk in frustration, Charlie decides saying he won’t take anything except booze wont help her case in the least. Wondering why she bothered to ask in the first place when she could have easily spent that time looking for Niffty in the first place Charlie makes her way back towards the hallway leading into the hotel. Before she manages out of the hearing range she hears a parting mumble from behind her causing her to stop.

"... Tch, Go follow that music or whatever, she's proba..."

Charlie turns back to Husker but he's already face down again, stock still. She gives him a look turning back wondering what he's talking about, There's no music to be heard at all just the blood in her ears at her mounting frustration, it's times like this she wishes Vaggie was here, she could really use a shoulder to lean on or someone to whip her employee’s into shape.  
Then she hears it, it's nigh perceptible but there's an almost quiet medley coming from down the halls from somewhere, charlie begins to walk.

It's a happy little ditty that she thinks she'd heard a long time ago, definitely human in origin, the kind she so enjoyed, big bands with wide ensembles of instruments and voices joining together, making her very being vibrate with excitement.

Curious more than ever now as she continues walking, she chases the sound, noticing as she moves that the hallways that she pass through are absolutely pristine, the music changes to a new but equally happy tune in her search. Charlie reaches her destination, a pair of double doors from where the sound was emanating, if she recalls correctly, this room was a ballroom that needed to be cleared of dilapidated debris but was put down a room they would need to come to later as there were more important issues, such as getting people into the hotel in the first place.

It was unmistakable now that she stood in front of the door, the music was actually playing loudly like someone inside was having a party and if the sounds of a ruckus inside where anything to go by someone WAS having a party inside.

She’s almost afraid of what she’ll find inside, but if it’s inside the hotel then Charlie needs to be aware if whatever inside the room is a danger to its occupants. Her hands clench for a moment and she takes a deep breath, holding it in as she reaches out to the door knob. Charlie's convinced that no matter whatever is behind the door that she's ready for it.

Upon peering inside however she suddenly realizes she's not. A streak of black flies past the door before more, tens, hundreds pass by. They’re fast, swirling around the room, throwing broken tables and chairs around, dust flying about. However the mass of shades isn't what has her frozen in place in shock, it’s the person standing at the center, waving his hands like a hellish conductor in the center of a hurricane of demons. In spite of the sight before her the music, which she is now aware is coming from the Radio Demon himself, is cheerful and upbeat throwing her further for a loop

_“There’s something wild about you child that’s so contagious!  
Let’s be outragous! Let’s Misbehave!”_

She's not ready to question what the Demon was doing in a room blasting music in a hurricane, she's almost convinced herself this is probably his strange way of releasing stress. Either that or he’s casting a spell that would undoubtedly cause her trouble in the future. Whatever it is she’s not prepared for either. Suddenly a loud cheer breaks over the music and without missing a beat Alastor breaks from his "conducting" to bend slightly hand reaching out low swinging his body up and arm out flinging a blur into the air.

The blur slows down mid-flight morphing into a manic Niffty, eye blown wide in what is unmistakably joy while striking a pose, duster pointed out like a sword while she sails through the air.

Another shade catches her, flying her around the ceiling as she bats her duster around at a speed Charlie can't even see anymore, depositing her on a ballroom table that wasn't there before.  
Charlie does a double take finally taking in the room is now half filled with tables and chairs draped in velvet red while the other half is being emptied of old broken tables and worn chairs at a high speed.

They’re… cleaning?

The shadows Alastor controlled were moving debris aside and out an open window while Niffty was running around cleaning down the whole room from top to bottom. Charlie had never seen something so peculiar and frightening at the same time before, she’s afraid what they might do if she tries to interrupt their flow.

Soon enough the room is spick and span, practically sparkling, and Niffty's jumping up and down excitedly in the middle of the newly refurbished ball room next to Alastor, who grins broadly back entirely relaxed, as the music ends with a lightly whispered "Let's misbehave"

With the music gone the silence is deafening and she considers if she should just back away now, however the decision is immediately taken out of her hands. Alastor’s ruby eye turning to her is the only indication she gets before a hand clamps down on her shoulder from behind abruptly ripping a yelp of fright from her, turning around to face a wide, sharp, Cheshire grin and crimson gaze, gleaming with what she can only imagine is malicious hidden motive. Or maybe it was just mirth at her reaction.

"Hello Charlie! I didn't mean to startle you! I couldn't help but notice you watching us in your lonesome like a wallflower! Why, you should have joined us in the revelry dear!"

Charlie takes a moment to find her voice, trying to keep it lighthearted and not awkward, doing a spectacular job of doing neither, still processing what she saw.

"Y-Yeah! I mean n-no! I couldn’t have possibly interrupted your uh… work! You were both really… going at it."

She’s trying to keep eye contact with Alastor’s three eyes, realizing late that at some point Niffty had gotten onto Alastor’s shoulder without her noticing while the small cyclops waves animatedly.

"Hi boss!"

“Nonesense! Niffty and I were just doing a little spring cleaning and I decided what better way to get people in the doors than to host only the grandest of Galas in the nine circles! All the realm will be clamoring to get in when they find the princess of hell is offering only the best of entertainment!”

The blonde blinks at the Demon for a second, mind reeling still from the last couple minutes, long enough that Alastor tilts his head, smile still on his face but not as exuberant as when he was speaking of his plans, Niffty mimics the gesture.

"Charlie, my dear, are you alright, you seem to be a bit shell shocked"

Charlie blinks, mind rebooting, wondering what she was doing in a hallway in the middle of the hotel for the damned speaking to a very powerful demon after watching said demon doing what she considers using his vast amount of powers and minions to, what looks like, play around. Her mind suddenly snaps to the original job she had intended and hinges on it instead, while the processing of the last few minutes take the back burner in her mind.

"Oh, no no, I'm fine Al! That’s a great idea! We’ll definitely plan something, but for right now I was actually looking for Niffty. I needed her to tidy up our new tenant’s room before he moves in, it’s a bit dusty and you know what they say, Clean Mind starts with Clean Room"

At the mention of the clientele Alastor gives her a smile that almost seems ridiculing but the moment ends before it begins as Niffty jumps up with a cheer at the prospect of more cleaning.

"Oh! Oh! You can count on me boss! I got it!"

Before Charlie can say another word however Niffty's already gone down the hall leaving them behind. It’s quiet for a second before there’s a radio distorted chuckle, Alastor taking what seems like pity on her, shaking his head and giving her a wide sharp grin.

"Which room is it dear? I feel I'll have a better time locating her than you will."

Charlie sends him on his way with the room number and key to get in, watching as he leaves with near a trot as music begins to bubble out of him again.

She cant help the small smile that crosses her lips at their strange sponsor who, while he doesn't necessarily believe in redemption, is working hard for her cause. She reflects on the duo, coming to conclusion that the expression of contentment on Alastor’s face was genuine and that maybe even he could be reached in some way.

Charlie starts to hum the tune of the song Alastor had been playing to herself until it hits her like a sack of oranges. She just sent the Radio Demon off to a new tenants room after witnessing the duo’s wild style of “cleaning”. She charges off with a yell of frustration, adamant about not losing another tenant.

**Author's Note:**

> Song: Let's Misbehave  
Singer: Irving Aaronson


End file.
